Gas Tax Holidays

We Americans are not known for our vacation taking culture. In the summer of 2006, The Conference Board, an independent research group, conducted a study that found that, 60% of those polled had no plans to take a vacation over the next six months. And about 25% of Americans employed in the privates sector get NO paid vacation time.
We need more gas taxes, not less.

So, John McCain’s plan–supported by our very own Junior Senator, Hillary Clinton–to have a gas tax holiday during the summer months, when gas might reach $4 a gallon, tickled me a bit. Is this the holiday we are settling for? You won’t pay taxes on your gas for 3 hot months, saving a few hundred dollars. Come fall though you will probably feel that sting even more. Gas prices are not going down any time soon. This plan is presented to us at a time when the economy looks grim, the democratic candidacy battle is growing old, and gas prices are a lot higher than they have ever been. Both John McCain and Hillary, whether you love them or hate them, are intelligent people who know that this is nothing but an attempt to grab some votes before November. Very little will be done to address the larger problems of our gas guzzling nation and how we are paying dearly to support this habit.

Do yourself a favor: Take a real holiday instead. Your rest and relaxation might get the creative wheels turning on how we might actually mend the much deeper problem we face. Those solutions are not necessarily sound bite friendly and perhaps are hard to hear, but very necessary nonetheless.